


The Letter

by Yatorihell



Series: In The Darkness [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, ノラガミ | Noragami
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-10
Updated: 2016-09-10
Packaged: 2018-08-14 06:09:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8001397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yatorihell/pseuds/Yatorihell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>First arc of the Harry Potter AU! <br/>Hiyori gets accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.<br/>Thank you Ina (leopah) for beta-ing me!</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Letter

**Author's Note:**

> The result of a long Skype chat which turned from fluffy Quidditch ideas to actual death and torture in the space of a week.

The witch pushed open the double doors of the Great Hall and led the new students inside. Four rows of tables were central in the room, laden with golden dishware and tablecloths of emerald, gold, scarlet, and sapphire. Hiyori’s eyes drifted up as she followed the crowd, seeing thousands of candles floating in the air underneath a night sky. Behind her some students whispered, saying that it was an enchanted ceiling. The older students whispered amongst themselves, craning to look at the new witches and wizards who would be sorted into houses and become part of a makeshift family.

It was bizarre - not just the sorting, but the whole experience.

Hiyori had lived a normal life, attending primary school and preparing to move into secondary school with the people she had always known. But on her eleventh birthday, June 28 th , someone came to her house.

A young man with auburn hair and unusual clothing was standing on her doorstep, letter in hand. When her father tried to accept it, the man explained it would be better if he explained the contents of it to them. They sat down at the table, unsure of this stranger and his elaborate mannerisms as he produced an envelope with an elaborate wax seal marked with the letter ‘H’.

Opening it, the letter announced that she had been accepted into a school she had never heard of, or even applied for:

_ Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry _ .

Of course, neither she nor her parents believed in such a thing, calling it poppycock and a scam meant to steal their daughter away to join whatever circus the man had escaped from.

However, once he had gone into detail – and even proved the existence of magic by creating fire in the palm of his hand – they realised they had a witch in the family.

“Hiyori is a muggle-born witch,” he explained. “A muggle possessing magic.”

Despite the absurdity of his declaration, they were assured that Hiyori would be taken to Hogwarts as it was ‘the duty of the wizarding world to educate all witches and wizards’.

With help from this ‘magician’ as her father called him, she and her parents collected the books and equipment she would need for school. The wizard gave them an extensive recommendation list of mystical-sounding textbooks and medieval-like tools, as well as an owl (“You want to stay in contact over the school year, don’t you?”).

When September 1 st rolled around and Hiyori’s friends had started their new schools with shiny blazers, the same man who had given her the letter took Hiyori and her parents to Kings Cross Station.

He was quite cheerful, announcing that they needed to go to Platform 9 ¾ at 11 o’clock in order to get the Hogwarts Express. Clueless and with their questions waved away, the Ikis followed him blindly through the station with battered suitcases and a tawny owl – quite an odd sight for normal students to see on the first day of term. His stride only broke when he stopped between the two pillars between Platform 9 and Platform 10.

“Follow me,” he said cheerfully, and with that, he charged at the brick wall and evaporated into thin air. Open-mouthed with shock, the family stared at the wall, convinced that he had been a ghost the whole time and Hogwarts wasn’t real. Until the man ran back through again, telling them to hurry up or Hiyori would miss the train.

He came up to Hiyori and place his hands on the trolley handle beside hers.

“Together,” he said, smiling.

She nodded uncertainly, and they ran headfirst towards the wall. Squeezing her eyes shut, she waited for the impact, but it never came. Hiyori cracked one eye open and looked at where they were, half-expecting her belongings to be scattered over the floor.

Instead of a sea of businessmen and buggies, there were hordes of teens laughing and shouting. Trolleys laden with suitcases and cages rattled along the stone pavement, pushed along by people who wore clothes as equally as strange as their escorts. Paper planes flew over the passengers’ heads but did not feel gravity, soaring endlessly as if caught in a constant draft.

The main feature of this seemingly parallel dimension was the grand black and red steam locomotive sitting on the tracks, students hanging out of the windows to bid farewell to their parents.

“It’s time to go,” her escort said. He said goodbye to the family, wishing Hiyori good luck and a safe trip. Taking her trolley, he strode away to the luggage carriage.

Hiyori hugged her parents tightly, trying not to cry. They told her to behave, and not to do anything dangerous, and to stay in touch. A muggle couple who had no idea of what dangers lay in the wizarding world, sending their only daughter to live there, was a rare sight to see at Platform 9 ¾.

Pulling away, Hiyori boarded the train and went into the nearest empty cabin. She pressed her hand against the window and looked out into the sea of people, searching for her parents. She didn’t see them until the train had begun pulling away from the station, separating her from them and her normal life.

The train journey lasted hours and took her through rolling hills and endless loughs, but Hiyori met a lot of first years who had siblings in the school already. When they found out she was a muggle, they took delight in telling her all about the wizarding world: spells to curses, Hogwarts to Hogsmeade, pranks to sweets.

Hiyori listened, mesmerised by the world she had entered, growing excited about what she was going to see.

At dusk, the train finally slowed to a stop at a small platform, slightly dampening Hiyori’s hopes for a grand school as she looked at the quaint village they had arrived in. A crimson sign on the brick wall said ‘Hogsmeade’ in white writing, where a tall man with a blond beard and black eyepatch stood waiting.

The man called for first-years disembarking from the train to follow him and that the luggage would be taken care of. They trailed after him to a lake where a fleet of small sailboats waited, each one lit with a glowing lantern.

The man, whom Hiyori heard was called Kuraha, sat in one of the boats which then began gliding away. Hurriedly, everyone followed suit, climbing into boats and sitting amazed as the boats began sailing by themselves.

The lake reflected the night sky like black glass, cut only by silver ripples which broke against the bows of the wooden ships. High above the lake, on a craggy cliff, sat a dark mass of a castle, the windows lit up by thousands of lanterns. Turrets speared the cloudy sky above, masking a full moon which shone light onto the steep rocks and made the cliff glow warm yet ominous.

The boats docked at a small harbour at the base of the cliff, allowing students to climb out and be directed up a set of stone flight of stairs.

Following the path, they found a new person waiting for them. A woman with long black hair and eyes like amethysts looked down at the first years, waiting for the excited chatter to die out. She delivered a speech Hiyori guessed she had delivered for the last decade, perhaps even more.

“Welcome to Hogwarts,” she said. “You will now be sorted into your houses. There are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Your house is now your family, points will be rewarded for effort, and taken for rule breaking. Whichever house has the most points at the end of the year will win the house cup. The ceremony will begin now.” She turned and walked at the doors, which opened by themselves.

Which is where Hiyori was now, being sorted.

The witch moved a stool and battered old hat onto the middle of the stage, briefly explaining that the hat would decide what house they would belong in.

_ The hat chooses where you go? _ Hiyori tilted her head to look at the classic wizard hat, its folds gaping like a mouth.  _ How does it do that? _

Unrolling a scroll, she called name after name. Each student sat on the stall, the hat placed on their hat and to her amazement, the hat began talking. Or should she say, yelling.

It called out the houses it placed its wearer in, which was followed by cheers from one of the four tables as they sat with their new families.

Hiyori’s name was called. She nervously sat on the stool and the hat was placed on her head. The worn leather nearly covered her eyes and she could feel it moving as it shouted:

“GRYFFINDOR!”

Applause erupted from the table on her left and she grinned, standing and bouncing down to sit at the end of the table.

The sorting ceremony was soon finished, and the headmaster introduced himself as Professor Tenjin. He gave a brief speech about the restrictions on the Dark Forest and the third-floor corridor on the right which were out of bounds, none of which Hiyori knew the location to.

After this, he gestured to begin the feast. The empty platters that were in front of them were suddenly full of food: chicken, potatoes, corn, bread, marshmallows, trifles, more than what Hiyori could name.

Hiyori looked around the room, studying the teachers that sat at the main table with the headmaster. Kuraha and Professor Tsuyu were there, but she didn’t recognise any of the others.

Turning back around, she saw a pale, severed head staring back at her from a platter of cheese and pineapple skewers.

She yelped in surprise, nearly falling off the bench as she threw herself away from it. The other Gryffindor first years like herself looked just as horrified as a body followed the head up through the table and hovered above them. Meanwhile, the older students laughed at their shock and began talking to it, calling it Nearly Headless Nick.

As Hiyori stared, the thing they had called ‘Nearly Headless Nick’ turned and looked down at her.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost!” he said, cracking up at the joke. “Welcome to Gryffindor! I’m Sir Nicholas.”

Hiyori opened her mouth and shut it again, watching him give a deep bow before floating away to mingle with other phantoms that had appeared through the hall. A monk, a lady in a very old-fashioned dress, and a knight on a horse to name a few.

_ This is so weird, _ she thought to herself.  _ This is meant to be a magic school, not a graveyard. _

Once the feast had finished, a girl with long blonde hair and a formal attitude led the first years through the hallways, giving warnings about moving staircases. Unsure of what she meant, 

Hiyori looked up and could see the stone staircases moving unsupported yet not crumbling to the ground.

They continued walking through the castle, which was even more impressive than Hiyori could’ve imagined. Moving portraits of ladies and knights greeted them, whilst others dozed and complained at the noise they were making.

Eventually they arrived at a golden door-sized portrait of a woman in a pink ruffled dress who asked for a password. The girl leading them (who had introduced herself as Bishamon during the walk) said “Cabot Draconis,” and the portrait swung away to reveal a doorway.

Following her inside, the students stood in what looked like a front room. Portraits of various men and women hung on the walls, and red armchairs were arranged around low tables filled with chess sets. A long couch faced a crackling fireplace and high windows filled the empty spaces above them.

“This is the Gryffindor common room,” Bishamon announced once everyone had entered. 

“Boys, your dormitories are upstairs on the left; girls, you are on the right. Your luggage is already in your rooms.” She began walking up the stairs,the girls following her. Once in the dorms, they split into their assigned rooms.

Hiyori walked through the halls looking for her room number. Finding it, she entered, finding it empty except from her owl, who she had decided to call Sky, who hooted softly at her. Her luggage had been placed at the end of a four-poster bed which Hiyori flung herself onto. Her arm wrapped around the soft crimson pillow and she nuzzled her face into it, thinking of the day’s events.

In no time at all, she was asleep.


End file.
